Page 1 of 1

The Long End (Part 1)

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2019 11:36 am
by Bob
First episode in the three-parter is up on OAC.
It seems Mr. Skint has a new apprentice. He's more of a common criminal/thug-type than a con artist; Buck definitely took more after Skint.

Re: The Long End (Part 1)

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:45 am
by djchatswithu
hi, new to the SS but definitely not to Odyssey. When I first heard Out Of the Picture i came up with a theory that buck is actually mr Skint's biggest victim. my theory is the skint already knows all about bucks past and after failing to find this mystery painting he 'took on' buck so he could get the inheritance through him. and what better way to gain bucks trust and confidence then involve him in all his schemes and teach him all he knows. skint also hides/destroys any link of bucks past, possibly to take bucks inheritance without buck even knowing he has one. that's why he was annoyied when Katrina stated taking an interest in buck, she was a threat to all the work he had done. however, when buck chose Katrina over skint, skint was still slightly upset, as he may have actually enjoyed some of his times with buck. a few years later skint gets a letter from buck asking about his parents, instead of replying skint notes the address and sends the letter back and works out buck's living with the Meltsners.

ok this next bit contains spoilers for The long End part 1.
After finding nothing in the recently deceased Alicia Barton's house skint heads the auction house, then goes to odyssey sending his 'assistant' to go find the chest (with stuff Alicia kept hidden from skint on behalf of buck's mother for buck inside) and/or the painting (just like with buck and dirk beggs phone), meanwhile buck receives the painting from Alicia and he, Eugene and Katrina take it to Penny who says that it's most likely a puzzle with all the clues to his inheritance shown in the painting. the three find his (spoilerbirthspoilercertificatespoiler) inside while looking it over.
let me know how that sounds and I hope this doesn't give away too many spoilers

-- Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:16 pm --

ok, I've just heard part 2 and i'm freaking out. my first fan theory I've posted and it's about 95% accurate. here's what I got right and wrong. be warned though, this does include MAJOR spoliers and plot details from part 2. so remember, you have been warned.
skint did enjoy having buck around and he does know everything about buck's past. buck's parent's are revealed to have used aliases on Buck's birth certificate, which buck concludes that they must have been scammers. penny find's buck's mothers will, buck's father having died in a car crash, hidden uder the painting, the painting having been painted on top of the laminated will. (congratulations, PennyBassett, you were spot on with that idea of buck's father.) after buck and jules talk about whether buck would ever consider going back to being a con artist, because it appears to be the family 'profession'. (the rest of the conversation is probably for all you out there who ship buck and jules, but of course they are interrupted by Jason). finally, skint picks up buck after buck walks jules home and promises to tell buck everything (skint does admit he was in love with buck's mother, so there goes the family theory) if buck helps him with his final scheme 'the big end" and come back to live with him. if buck refuses, or tells anyone anything, he'll sell his protégé on Jules, Eugene and Katrina. eugene, states earlier in the episode that he knows about the protégé being violent and isn't afraid to face him to protect buck. (I suppose when a mega corporation kills your father-in-law and your mother is enslaved and killed by a jealous lover, a guy with a bat doesn't seem that big a threat to Eugene.)

my theory for the final part is that 'the big end' is buck inheritance, as penny said she checked the will and there was 'a whole load of stuff'. so my theory about buck being conned could still be right. it's possible buck might accept the offer to stop skint from hurting anyone, but it's stated there's a 24 watch on Buck, Eugene, Katrina and Jason, so it would be slightly hard for him to do anything. /color]



by the way, I think the writer's have read PennyBasett's fanfiction when writing this 3 parter. there's a few blank spaces she filled that have matched up with this episode. i.e Monty Whitaker has followed skint to odyssey so he can arrest him (yes, he's partly teamed up with Jason) as a side note, skint thinks the antique shop is just a 'front' for Jason's 'police work".
also, I defintenly think this is skint's last episode, as his actor is sounding a lot older and a bit frail, I think he might be struggling a tiny bit to get his lines out.

-- Fri Jan 18, 2019 1:28 pm --

ok, so the final part was slightly intense.

two bits shows up at the antique and gives Jason $2000 as a bribe for the hope chest, as he speeds away, monty steps out from the back room and radios the police to follow him. Jason tells monty it was good Eugene called. skint shows up at the meltsners, forces buck to tape and gag the meltsners (Eugene protests but skint threatens to hurt Katrina) and takes buck and the documents with him, telling Eugene and Katrina that two bits will be there shortly to 'watch them'. On skint's orders, two-bits will injure them if skint doesn't call every 15 minutes, or if the police try to rescue them, buck and skint go to a lock up where buck's inheritance is. on the drive over, skint confirms buck's dad died in a car crash, and that his mother gave buck to skint when she found she had cancer, not wanting buck to see her so sick. skint reveals he always thought of buck as his son, and was upset when buck went with a Katrina, buck says he felt slightly the same, but knew it was the right thing to do. as buck asks more, skint tells him its been 15 minutes and says anymore questions means he won't call two-bits, buck agrees , so skint calls. Two-bits boasts about scaring the Meltsners with violence and says there's a swat team outside. skint tells buck he'll let two bits do whatever he wants to them, then leave him to take the fall. when they arrive at the lock-up buck tells skint he's claustrophobic due to his stay in the correction centre, and skint greedily goes in, before buck and the guards lock skint in, and Monty arrests him. buck tells skint that he told the Meltsners and Jason the previous night and they agreed to play along, he predicted skint showing up at the house. two bits was caught in a car chase trying to reach the Meltsners, and helped too when he was told skint's true plan to leave two bits behind for buck. Monty then takes buck to felicia who tells buck his past, and that she sent the stuff to buck when the police showed up to arrest her, and was taken into protective custody while skint was caught, felica that the police faked her death to fool skint into searching he house. felica wanted to tell buck his past before she went to jail. felica says that even though the inheritance money was stolen, bucks mom wanted to give buck an inheritance because she loved him very much. Buck tells Eugene he wants the money returned to the victims then they and Katrina set off a model rocket in the backyard to signal buck's new life.



And that's the long end. I love how Buck, Eugene, Katrina, Jason and Monty caught skint by conning him into thinking he got away with everything so easily, I also liked how skint genuinely cared about buck, but his greed would always come out in the end. this is definitely an episode to listen to and I think there's definitely potential for fanfiction here. PennyBassett, I think I can hear you getting some ideas. just thought I'd mention as this is a Meltsner family episode, but when writing this I had Eugene at the top of the page, and Katrina was there when I previewed it.